Weighted Dips and Determinant of Strength Debate**

[jaytaylor84]

Ok so here's the deal, me and a couple of buddies of mine were debating the correlation between strenth and size for weighted dips/pull ups/chin ups. I personally am not very big, 150 lbs, but i dip for sets with 70 around my waist, i get looks in my gym like people cant believe someone my size can dip that much weight yadda yadda.. so whats the deal? are dips necessarily easy for those who dont weigh a lot to begin with and have a very low bf percentage?

 

[_cato_]

Yes, dips are much easier for individuals who weigh less. This is particularly the case for individuals who weigh less and have lower body fat levels, since any additional fat you have is making the lift more difficult by increasing the load, and at the same time, because it is fat and not muscle, it is not adding at all to your ability to lift the increased weight. The same could be said, however, of individuals with a lot of muscle in their legs/lower body, since it isn't contributing to the lifts.

Nearly all of your body weight is being moved when doing dips/pullups/chinups. Consider that if you were comparing yourself to a 200 pound individual with the same dimensions as you, he'd have to do roughly 33% more work than you just to do one of these body weight lifts.

Consider that a typical males in their teens/20s, even in an untrained state, who are 150 pounds or under, can walk into a gym and probably bang out quite a few dips. The same can't be said about individuals over 200 pounds, who may not even be able to do 1 full range of motion dip in an untrained state.

 

[wannabuildmuscle]

I can attest to this. My buddies who weigh 130 to 140 can dip and do pull ups all day, but get on me becasue I weight 200lbs and can't do as much as them. I try to explain to them, I am carring 60 lbs on them, but they just don't wanna hear it.

 

[jaytaylor84]

is half your bodyweight on the belt a good determinant that you have a good strength base? i guess im asking what is considered a respectable weight thrown on the belt in relation to your weight?

 

[gstacker]

If you weight 200lbs you should be able to hang a couple plates an do sets imo.... So if you weight 150lbs and hang 60lbs i think your doing jus fine...

 

[moya]

i think gladiator was dipping with like 4 plates at one point... not sure how many reps he was getting, but im sure he will chime in when he sees this...
personally speaking, my upper body strength has always been a bit behind my legs... but i have gotten up to +90lbs on dips for 10 rep sets at a bodyweight of 150... id say that is stronger than average but nothing amazing...

 

[_cato_]

It seems like people who train dips hard tend to dip around 1.2-1.4x their bench (obviously this can vary quite a bit since there's other muscles at play in a dip).<--If anyone thinks this is way off feel free to share your experience/knowledge on the subject.

Take a 10-rep max bench you think would be impressive for your weight and multiply by 1.2, then subtract your body weight from that to see what you'd need to hang from yourself.

For a 150 pound individual, I'd say if you can rep 225 for 10 on bench press, then you are pretty damn strong, since that would equate to about a 2x body weight 1RM. Similarly, I'd say if you can dip with 120 pounds hanging from you for a set of 10, that's damn strong. Even dipping with 60-70 pounds for a set of 10 is a "solid strength base" as you referenced earlier.

 

[the.gladiator1987]

yea Moya, I was doing 4 plates on cycle. Awesome exercise, one of my favorites. I weigh 190 and right now Im doing 3 plates for 6 reps. Benching 275x10

Yes it is easier if you are lighter of course. I actually found that I was in jail doing dips with no weight and I ended up getting to 70 in one set, I got out and said damn I need to put weight on. Juts keep going heavy bro

 

[extreme11191986]

I have cut to 145 pounds or so, and the other day I repped 5 plates twice. Can do like 5 to 7 reps with 4 plates. I wonder if any of these people still post here lol.